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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Yesterday, the three Sinaloa brothers facing execution for the alleged meth trafficking in Malaysia, suffered a crushing blow to their hope of the charges being dismissed. The Malaysia Federal Court, the equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court, rendered the decision Thursday resulting in the charges against the brothers standing and the case will proceed to trial in February.

The brothers, Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal, 33, Simon Gonzalez Villarreal, 36, and Luis Alfonso Gonzalez Villarreal, 43 former brick makers, are from Culiacan Sinaloa . They were arrested in March 2008 at a factory in the Malay southern state of Johor. The arrest included two other men, a Singaporean and a Malaysian, all were charged with trafficking which carries a mandatory death sentence. Malaysian method of execution is hanging. The brothers left Sinaloa to Asia only one month prior to the arrest.

Capital punishment in Malaysia follows a ridged line and applies to murder, drug trafficking, treason, and waging war against the King. There is no juvenile mercy in the country as juvenile justice is also subject to the gallows. Only pregnant women and young children are exempt from capital punishment. The judicial system in the country holds no distinction between “hard” drugs versus lighter drugs such as marijuana. One is subject to hanging for the seemingly lessor offense of selling small quantities of marijuana.

Interestingly, studies have found that these strict laws have not been a successful deterrent. Momentum is building for the abolishment of the death penalty in Malaysia. In November of this year the government has announced a decision to examine the issue, as it has failed to curb drug trafficking. Most drug trafficking arrests are small time, "little fish" in the drug trafficking pond, but subjected to the same harsh judgement and penalty.

The hands of a judge are tied when imposing sentences, as they are mandatory. Nora Murat, executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, put it, "When a judge has decided on the guilt of the accused, he has only one punishment to give 'death.", further stating; "Mandatory death penalty removes the discretion of judges to consider external factors such as the accused's level of maturity and intelligence, life background, circumstances leading to the commission of the offense and other mitigating factors,".

Police raided the factory where the brothers were employed, and found was 63 pounds of methamphetamine with a set value of 44 million ringgit (15M USD) . The five were arrested and charged with the manufacturing and trafficking of the drug.

In April a defense motion was filed declaring the rights of the defendants had been violated and to proceed with a trial would be a miscarriage of justice. The motion was based of the manipulation of the evidence. Foong argued the case should be seen in the high court because they violated several fundamental rights of the accused during the investigation into the handling of evidence and the disappearance of much of the drug seized.

"if we continue with the trial, and they are convicted, we have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal, and finally to the Federal Court, said their lawyer at the time. The motion was an attempt at being granted a “peremptory writ” , which if granted would have prevent the case from continuing into trial.

Judge Mohamed Zawawi is presiding over the case and is well known for the many drug related death sentences he has handed down. The brothers were astonished that the judge sent the motion to the high court for a decision. Simon shared with reporters his feelings as he stated “This judge is hard to crack, now we have more possibilities, I hope this will end soon, and hopefully good,“ he said at the conclusion of the short hearing in April.

Through it all the Gonzales Villarreal family have not faltered in their support and concern of the brothers. The oldest brother, Jose, has appealed to the Mexican Government to help the brothers, saying the family has only been allowed to speak to the brothers twice and they have little knowledge of what is happening with the case. “My parents are in despair over this,” he said in a telephone interview from Culiacan to Associated Press. “We have not been able to help because of our lack of resources. We are poor people.”

The Gonzalez Villarreal’s are a family of brick makers, which includes the father and all nine sons. On a good day collectively making 300 pesos selling the bricks they made. Their sister Alejandrina said her brothers were hard workers, and from the age of six it was "bricks, bricks, bricks". She said two men the brothers occasionally played soccer with told them about a lucrative employment opportunity abroad, and that were going to try their luck at it. They never said exactly where it was they were travelling to.

The brothers have no criminal records, and the family insists they are innocent, and neighbors reject the idea that the brothers were involved in the drug world, and there was no sign that the brothers aspired to the ostentatious world of Sinaloa's narcos. By all accounts these were good, hardworking family men with wives and children and a large close family who have many concerns about the brothers. Alejandrina reports her brother Jose is in ill health from kidney ailments and fear it is left untreated.

When the phone call came after the arrest in March of 2008, the family pooled their money together and borrowed from friends to send Alejandrina and a friend to Malaysia, where she saw her brothers for the first time in a courtroom, chained with prisoners from different cases. They were, stunned to see their sister, and assured her they did not go there to get involved in drugs, that they were promised employment that had nothing to do with illegal activities.

This week’s news that the Federal court rejected the motion, and the brothers will be tried by the “ hanging judge” Mohamed Zawawi, baffled the Gonzalez Villarreal family. “ The truth is, yes, we were very surprised at the news. I was watching it on television and I was sad and frustrated” Alexandrine, a sister, said in an interview with CNN Mexico. And Alejandrina admits the decision and proceedings are complicated and confusing.

If convicted the brothers will have two automatic appeals which will last for about a year.

Though this weeks decision from the high court was not what they hoped for and they are sadden the Gonzalez Villarreal family have not lost faith that somehow the brothers will return home. Jose has a daughter only 3 when he left to Asia, she is now in school, but refuses to learn to read and write.

"She says she won't learn until her father comes back," the mother said. "I tell her, 'No, you must learn quickly so you can write to him.'"

Note: Video is from April court hearing;

Photos: Top: Gonzalez Villarreal family photo in happier times

Below: Hector Gonzalez, father of the brothers stands in family brick yard

64 comments:

Well those Villarreal boys will know what it feels like to be hung by the neck until they die a horrific sufficating death. They wil be cured of thier life as criminals. Thats for sure. You have to be a real stupid. dumb ass to F around with drugs in a country who has mantadory Death for dope dealers. They deserve it. People around the world are tored of the shit from losers like them. If Mexico woul apply the same standards to thier criminal drug dealers, maybe they would'nt be in the shit that they are in now.Bye-Bye Villarreal boys, Your poppy the devil is waiting with burning arms for you. You got in bed with the satan and now hes going to fuck each one of you forever. LOLOLOL!!!They brought this on themselves. What went around came around!!

Mexico has a death penalty...... Often though it is when the police find someone who will not pay, they are arrested, taking out to a ranch and killed. Buried and no one knows where you are. so no need to worry they have it

If you would have read the background story (click on the link for it), capital punishment in Malaysia, and harsh punishment in general, does nothing to stop drug usage or to lower it. Mainly (the) poor people in Malaysia are said to take this specific "upper" to get through the long, hard, working days / hours.

I couldn't have said it better, studies show this death sentencing isn't a deterent, these fucking morons on here talking out the sides of their neck, go to church on Sunday, then get drunk and beat their wives Monday night types . People are sold, trapped. It happens to the most desperate of people trying to make better lives for their families. Of course the little fish all get hung, because the big fish are never near the product, not a single finger print on amy of it so why would they care if there is a death penalty or not. They have slaves to handle and transport the shit for them. In other words, they have people that will get hung for them. These comments I'm reading really fucks me up inside man.Munke

First thing I saw when I got off the plane in Thailand was a sign that said, 'Death penalty in Thailand for drug offenses'.

Same in Malaysia. They leave no doubt what will happen to you if you bring in drugs.

These guys are getting off easy. Had they not been caught, they would eventually be called back to Mexico and tortured to death. The life they lead always has the same ending. A prolonged painful death or a life in a third world shit hole prison eating flour and water with cockroaches.

Does anybody know about the women dead in nuevo laredo . Because i dont know why people still buy el manana newspaper they work for the zetas and if you comment something about the zetas it is never publish

People can fantasize about using draconian measures to combat drug trafficking, but it's been proven again and again that they DON'T WORK.

The lowest people on the totem pole pay the price, while the capos find some other poor sap to do the grunt work.

The fact is, as long as human beings have been on the planet, they've sought out psychoactive substances to consume, and they always will.

Putting people in prison, or even killing them, for something that is as much a part of human nature as eating or drinking Coca Cola is barbaric and fruitless. Yes, I know that there are many people who don't consume alcohol or other psychoactive substances, but they all have a vice of some kind, whether it's food, cigarettes, or religion.

@dec 17 1:16 I come from the greatest country in the world. The United States of the great America. Take some time and drive out to Florance Colorado and see if all of those filty Mexican drug dealers are getting slapped on thier wrists or are they crying like little bitches because of how "harsh" thier prison sentences that they are serving. Ask Carlos Lehder, or Cardenas, the little queer from the CDG or the little bitch Vicente Carillo or whatever his name is- no one cares-and by the way asshole, America makes the best doughnuts in the world. I'm proud and happy to have and live by the best there is - puto!!

DFL, I can't believe that you can't even spell Florence, yet you claim to come from the greatest country on earth. Maybe you can take advantage of your country's great schools. They wouldn't teach you how to spell Carrillo, but they might teach you to read.

@ DFL 2:20PM Iran, Malaysia, Thailand. all these countries have harsh penalties for drug dealing. and all these countries have rising drug problems. In Iran,Heroin is a big problem, in Malaysia and Thailand its Meth. got any more bright ideas?

Hola...I was limited from going into depth with any point. However, the death penalty was enacted in Malaysia in the 80s for trafficking. It has not only NOT decreased numbers in trafficking but the number has skyrocketed especially in the manufacturing of meth. You can begin with The UN World Drug & Crime Reports and go to the fact the Malaysian government itself last month is saying perhaps they need to rethink the penalty as it is ineffective. The issue has evolved in to a tool for racism in Malaysia, a Muslim country and one I resided and had a business in for 6 years prior to 9/11.Read this:According to “World Drug Report” by United Nations, over the last five years, Malaysia has become a significant methamphetamine manufacturing location. Most Malaysian especially the media blame Iranians for this trend and it leads to anger among this huge community which believes that they have contribute a lot to Malaysia’s economy and society but it was never covered by Malaysian media. The Malay Mail newspaper recently in a report, titled "Persian Pushers" blamed the Iranian community for the problem of drug trafficking in Malaysia. “IRANIAN drug rings have emerged as major players in Klang Valley’s drug ‘business’ and now control about 90 per cent of the local syabu or crystal methamphetamine market.”, Malay Mail reported. In another case, Bernama, the official news agency of Malaysia chose the title “Six Including Iranian arrested” These kinds of reports in Malaysian Media are not accepted by Iranians and they try to show their objection by commenting on the reports.As for the brothers, I keep an open mind. What most people do not understand is that Asian countries recruit impoverished people from foreign countries with promises of high pay for factory, domestic work or glamorous employment for modeling etc. Once there they are “sold” into what amounts to slavery and their passports are immediately confiscated and they work in the sex, drug or as household slaves under the cloak of the threat of death. The country is corrupted and famous for manufacturing evidence in high profile cases.

That said I am a proponent of capital punishment in extreme cases, such as Ted Bundy. But cannot support it as it stands in the US with such a lack of parity. Lets say I support it in theory.....Paz, Buela

Siskiyou_Kid. Who cares if it don't work,they went to a foreign country with its own Laws,and broke those laws.Asian countries got a problem with this drug,and now they get foreigners trying to cash in.I bet they went to get the precursors and thought,man,its beautiful here,shell we stay a bit.I say fuck em,every country on this planet has its own laws you have to respect and abide by,they chose to disregard those laws,now they get to pay the price.Where is the problem?No one coerced them or forced them,now we got technicalities rearing its ugly head,tainted evidence,missing evidence,blah,blah,blah,fuck em.They knew what they were doing.They got caught,that,s the problem with bitches.Caught red handed.Malaysia has the death penalty for trafficking,making drugs,what is the problem.I say good on them for not bowing to pressure from the political left pussies of this world.USA,MALAY,THAI,CHINA,etc,good on them for saying these are our laws,abide by them or else.Where is the problem?

Hello amigos, it's always the same!!!We r innocent, we did not do it, we r hard working mexicans,and have no idea how this meth got here!!!The familys usually do not know of the "double life" if their own family members!!Too bad, but it looks like the "Fat Lady is about to sing"!!!May the brothers find GOD before it's too late!!

Even with alcohol now officially recognized as the most dangerous the most destructive and the most deadly drug of all the drugs, do not expect the misfits and morons who desire a draconian police state to change their evil ways.

@4:09 You say the Gonzalez brothers knew what they were doing, and you don't care if the evidence is tainted, or that whoever they were working for hasn't been charged, and that you could care less about the rule of law.

Well, NOTHING is EVER as it seems. What if they went to work as brick makers, had their passports confiscated, and they were forced to do whatever was asked of them in foreign country? What if they are not part of an international conspiracy, and just happen to be from Culiacan?

I agree that the law is the law, even if it's based on Islamic Sharia Law, but it's still not RIGHT or JUST.

Texcoco, in the real world people other than professionals and athletes get jobs on the other side of the world. Especially in the Middle East, huge percentages of society are made up of unskilled laborers from poor countries.

The Philippines in particular is a country that exports unskilled laborers and domestics all over Asia.

Siskiyou_Kid you are totally right, but those were special circumstances on war time and they know the risk of getting killed. Other than that I don't know wihch other contry get unskilled laborers from half the world away to work on their countries. I don't think Malaysia pay more than Mexico for an unskilled laborers.

The dream in culiacan sin. is to become a drug lord, these brothers went to do buiseness and got popped, who is gonna go to malasya to make bricks in a poorer country than mexico? If they woudnt have gotten them they would have succeeded and authorities would have to dealt with a powerful rich cartel in the future. so sorry but their new venture didnt work

I understand why one would think guilt, I would also be very suspect had I not lived and done business in much of Asia for 30+ year.Of course they were not told they would be making bricks. Most likely factory and training at high pay.

Remember this word INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE. our gov says: Trafficking crime involves force, fraud and coercion to exploit economic migrants by promised employment. They become trapped in involuntary servitude, by threats of harm and confiscation of travel and indentity documents, a trafficking tool. specifically the us was speaking of two countries in asia-Indonesia and Malaysia.

these bricklayers were in Malaysia for less than a month. they are not your enemy and may well have been victims. Possibly Once there of course they knew what was happening but had no resource not even language to help themselves. Things are often not what they appear. When society stops targeting and ignoring impoverished people then changes will be made, until then then will be subject to recruitment by cartels and involuntary servitude.Just My Daily "Dos" paz, chivis

The problem here is because they are Mexican,the motherfuckers went over there to cook and make profit.They got caught,now they pay the price.But no,its the sinister Malay Government and its people railroading poor innocent travelers and confiscating their passports to force them to work.Doe's that sound pathetically ridiculous?That's because it is ridiculous.Siskiyou_Kid,baby keep banging on your drum,you might convince someone,if they as idiotic as you.They guilty as fuck,get over it.And for your information,do you know how hard it is to get a job in even Thailand,they got sense,any building project has to employ Thais first and foremost,laborer's,builders,they don't need,are you fucking crazy?

Chivs said... The biggest load of bullshit,how can you say that and keep a straight face.They are builders,and were not told they would be making Meth?Is that what you are saying?Oh no its the poor impoverished Mexican,who just happened to get caught with precursor chemicals,Meth or Ice as they call it,and cash,but hey it was all a setup on these poor builders,i forgot,Asian countries don't have millions of their own builders,they got to get itinerant builders,man how stupid can you be.Doe's anyone commit crime?Or is it just the ones you feel kinship to that have been set up?Man they caught red handed and it is "impoverished people"shit,they don't have impoverished people in Asia do they,oh they get set up too,when they are caught.Conspiracy alert.

Yo!! all you Mexican haters if these guys were White boys it would be outrage!!!, right? Just like when the U.S. killed Anwar al-Awlaki. wich did far worst than these two cats. Everyone was saying " this is an atrocity and other bull!! shit they should have captured and tortured has ass!!! big time for treason. But oh no of course not he is a U.S. citizen. You are all just racist MOFO's

Impossimible according to people here cartel members can't travel to other countries but the USA. Also typical family members not wanting to take responsabilty for their criminal members, another case of "my baby didnt do nuffin".

All yall Mexican haters talking shit...Fuck yall haters!!!If this 3 brothers knew wut they were getting themselves into, o"well know they got 2 pay the price 4 it but if they didnt know, i feel sorry 4 them, but 2 yall haters out-there, yall need 2 quit talking noise cuz when WHITEBOYS get killed in Mexico or in the border yall make a big deal about it, so quit crying like a lil' bitch now..

December 18, 2011 4:29 PM What I meant to say was, they knew what they were doing and most likely they knew it was drug traffickers they were working for. Somehow they were mislead in the way that they didn't know Malaysia will kill drug traffickers.

Some one I know was invited to work for people on the drug busyness and he moved to Tijuana in 2006, he was told from the beginning what he was going to do, my friend was arrested in Tijuana on a stash house, I'm sure it was the same with this people.

texcoco what you discribe is simple recrutiment, this is most likely not the same. this is what is known as promises unkept, to promise high pay for factory jobs in countries with wealth, such as this one. they prey on Economic Migrants or impoverished persons of latin america, asia ans africa. they are then turned into virtual slaves. " involuntary servitude" you are getting the recrutiment and this suggestion fused. not the same study it.

@12;26 amhe is loyal about finding posts for forum but in this case his naive personal knowledge is shinning through and he is dead wrong. recruitment of narco work is a different beast than coerced involuntary servitude. all we are doing is posting our opinion and some of us are educated to knowing that its a possibilty.

ask yourself, what was the worth of these men that asia was willing to pay for their travel, must be 3-4 thousand dollar, for their skills as brick makers? or their high status as drug lords? give me a break, they have a clean background working everyday long hour for a few pesos. only thing makes sence is they will be workign in the illegal trade as slaves. they had no other worth. it is a huge problem in asia and scouts get paid money.

What pisses me Off the most is that if they were in the US Calderon would be calling the president crying that we could not give tge death penalty to a Mexican national. And of course the US president would agree with him. Shy can't Calderon call the Malaysian president and tell him he cant impose the death sentence on a Mexican national because tge Malaysian president would just tell him to shut up and watch. My point is that only the US is the only country that listens and helps Mexico but when something goes wrong they are quick to point tge finger at the uS and say that we are the bad guys and it's our fault that the drugs even exist.

@ H-TOWN .Aren't you the clown always asking people on here if such and such is safe?Get off his dick you bitch."If they were white-boys"and this same prick is calling everyone racist.Silly little fart,it just shows what kind of clowns make statements on here."White-boy"Australians,Europeans,all had to go through the same procedure.Because they were caught fucking with dope,so please change your "poor little mexican"shit.They guilty you bitches,stop whining.I didn't know Mexicans whined this much.Poor little us,fuck outta here,you killing each other,growing drugs,transporting drugs,making drugs,and its every-one else,s fault?Go figure that shit.

I thought I would never say this but legalize and tax the drugs proabition didn't work in the 1920s and 30s so they legalized and it killed all the crime and Mafias it didn't kill it 100 percent but the murder rate and crime fell tremendously and all the corruption fell dramatically,its the less of two evils take away cartels power,all the taxes of the legalized drugs will go to communities and people that need the help at least you can decide not to do drugs you have a choice. with the cartels you have no choice murder,corruption,killing inocent people if people want to do drugs they will so sell it and tax them hell pharmacies are doing it.

December 19, 2011 10:03 AM he is loyal about finding posts for forum but in this case his naive personal knowledge is shinning through and he is dead wrong. recruitment of narco work is a different beast than coerced involuntary servitude. all we are doing is posting our opinion and some of us are educated to knowing that its a possibility.

You are right, my level of education is really low, only 9 years in school in Mexico and the little English I know I learn it all on my own.

You said his naive personal knowledge is shinning through.... haven't you ever come across something that said, if it sounds to good to be true, it is probably to good to be true.

I don't think Malaysia needs brick makers or slaves or unskilled workers from Mexico and my ignorance is telling me they were most likely hired to watch over a warehouse full of chemical precursors to be shipped to Mexico for the manufacture of Crystal Meth.

In the U.S the Mexican cartels use people send from Mexico to look after the drugs in the stash houses.

December 19, 2011 10:03 AM I honestly don't give a fuck if you think I'm not an educated person, obviously I'm not the only one thinking this people are guilty. You said you are an educated person and the only thing you are righting is bullshit, nothing good for anyone to say...wow you are totally right.

It is not about whether the capital punishment works or not. When you shoot 71 peasants for not working for you like the zetas did in a Mexican state its not about whether capital punisment works or not its about justice.